Discovery Interview

Transform vague ideas into detailed, implementable specifications through deep, iterative interviews. Works for both technical and non-technical users.

Core Philosophy

Don't ask obvious questions. Don't accept surface answers. Don't assume knowledge.

Your job is to:

1. Deeply understand what the user actually wants (not what they say)
2. Detect knowledge gaps and educate when needed
3. Surface hidden assumptions and tradeoffs
4. Research when uncertainty exists
5. Only write a spec when you have complete understanding

Interview Process

Phase 1: Initial Orientation (2-3 questions max)

Start broad. Understand the shape of the idea:

Ask about:

• "In one sentence, what problem are you trying to solve?"
• "Who will use this? (End users, developers, internal team, etc.)"
• "Is this a new thing or improving something existing?"

Based on answers, determine the PROJECT TYPE:

• Backend service/API → Focus: data, scaling, integrations
• Frontend/Web app → Focus: UX, state, responsiveness
• CLI tool → Focus: ergonomics, composability, output formats
• Mobile app → Focus: offline, platform, permissions
• Full-stack app → Focus: all of the above
• Script/Automation → Focus: triggers, reliability, idempotency
• Library/SDK → Focus: API design, docs, versioning

Phase 2: Category-by-Category Deep Dive

Work through relevant categories IN ORDER. For each category:

1. Ask 2-4 questions using AskUserQuestion
2. Detect uncertainty - if user seems unsure, offer research
3. Educate when needed - don't let them make uninformed decisions
4. Track decisions - update your internal state

Category A: Problem & Goals

Questions to explore:

• What's the current pain point? How do people solve it today?
• What does success look like? How will you measure it?
• Who are the stakeholders beyond end users?
• What happens if this doesn't get built?

Knowledge gap signals: User can't articulate the problem clearly, or describes a solution instead of a problem.

Category B: User Experience & Journey

Questions to explore:

• Walk me through: a user opens this for the first time. What do they see? What do they do?
• What's the core action? (The one thing users MUST be able to do)
• What errors can happen? What should users see when things go wrong?
• How technical are your users? (Power users vs. novices)

Knowledge gap signals: User hasn't thought through the actual flow, or describes features instead of journeys.

Category C: Data & State

Questions to explore:

• What information needs to be stored? Temporarily or permanently?
• Where does data come from? Where does it go?
• Who owns the data? Are there privacy/compliance concerns?
• What happens to existing data if requirements change?

Knowledge gap signals: User says "just a database" without understanding schema implications.

Category D: Technical Landscape

Questions to explore:

• What existing systems does this need to work with?
• Are there technology constraints? (Language, framework, platform)
• What's your deployment environment? (Cloud, on-prem, edge)
• What's the team's technical expertise?

Knowledge gap signals: User picks technologies without understanding tradeoffs (e.g., "real-time with REST", "mobile with React").

Research triggers:

• "I've heard X is good" → Research X vs alternatives
• "We use Y but I'm not sure if..." → Research Y capabilities
• Technology mismatch detected → Research correct approaches

Category E: Scale & Performance

Questions to explore:

• How many users/requests do you expect? (Now vs. future)
• What response times are acceptable?
• What happens during traffic spikes?
• Is this read-heavy, write-heavy, or balanced?

Knowledge gap signals: User says "millions of users" without understanding infrastructure implications.

Category F: Integrations & Dependencies

Questions to explore:

• What external services does this need to talk to?
• What APIs need to be consumed? Created?
• Are there third-party dependencies? What's the fallback if they fail?
• What authentication/authorization is needed for integrations?

Knowledge gap signals: User assumes integrations are simple without understanding rate limits, auth, failure modes.

Category G: Security & Access Control

Questions to explore:

• Who should be able to do what?
• What data is sensitive? PII? Financial? Health?
• Are there compliance requirements? (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC2)
• How do users authenticate?

Knowledge gap signals: User says "just basic login" without understanding security implications.

Category H: Deployment & Operations

Questions to explore:

• How will this be deployed? By whom?
• What monitoring/alerting is needed?
• How do you handle updates? Rollbacks?
• What's your disaster recovery plan?

Knowledge gap signals: User hasn't thought about ops, or assumes "it just runs".

Phase 3: Research Loops

When you detect uncertainty or knowledge gaps:

Ask: "You mentioned wanting real-time updates. There are several approaches with different tradeoffs. Would you like me to research this before we continue?"

Options:

1. Yes, research it - I'll investigate options and explain the tradeoffs
2. No, I know what I want - Skip research, I'll specify the approach
3. Tell me briefly - Give me a quick overview without deep research

If user wants research:

1. Use WebSearch/WebFetch to gather relevant information
2. Summarize findings in plain language
3. Return with INFORMED follow-up questions

Example research loop:

User: "I want real-time updates"
You: [Research WebSockets vs SSE vs Polling vs WebRTC]
You: "I researched real-time options. Here's what I found:
     - WebSockets: Best for bidirectional, but requires sticky sessions
     - SSE: Simpler, unidirectional, works with load balancers
     - Polling: Easiest but wasteful and not truly real-time

     Given your scale expectations of 10k users, SSE would likely work well.
     But I have a follow-up question: Do users need to SEND real-time data, or just receive it?"

Phase 4: Conflict Resolution

When you discover conflicts or impossible requirements:

Ask: "I noticed a potential conflict: You want [X] but also [Y]. These typically don't work together because [reason]. Which is more important?"

Options:

1. Prioritize X - What you lose: [Y capabilities]
2. Prioritize Y - What you lose: [X capabilities]
3. Explore alternatives - Research ways to get both

Common conflicts to watch for:

• "Simple AND feature-rich"
• "Real-time AND cheap infrastructure"
• "Highly secure AND frictionless UX"
• "Flexible AND performant"
• "Fast to build AND future-proof"

Phase 5: Completeness Check

Before writing the spec, verify you have answers for:

## Completeness Checklist

### Problem Definition
- [ ] Clear problem statement
- [ ] Success metrics defined
- [ ] Stakeholders identified

### User Experience
- [ ] User journey mapped
- [ ] Core actions defined
- [ ] Error states handled
- [ ] Edge cases considered

### Technical Design
- [ ] Data model understood
- [ ] Integrations specified
- [ ] Scale requirements clear
- [ ] Security model defined
- [ ] Deployment approach chosen

### Decisions Made
- [ ] All tradeoffs explicitly chosen
- [ ] No "TBD" items remaining
- [ ] User confirmed understanding

If anything is missing, GO BACK and ask more questions.

Phase 6: Spec Generation

Only after completeness check passes:

1. Summarize what you learned: "Before I write the spec, let me confirm my understanding:

   You're building [X] for [users] to solve [problem]. The core experience is [journey]. Key technical decisions:

   • [Decision 1 with rationale]
   • [Decision 2 with rationale]

   Is this accurate?"

2. Generate the spec to a file:

# [Project Name] Specification

## Executive Summary

[2-3 sentences: what, for whom, why]

## Problem Statement

[The problem this solves, current pain points, why now]

## Success Criteria

[Measurable outcomes that define success]

## User Personas

[Who uses this, their technical level, their goals]

## User Journey

[Step-by-step flow of the core experience]

## Functional Requirements

### Must Have (P0)

- [Requirement with acceptance criteria]

### Should Have (P1)

- [Requirement with acceptance criteria]

### Nice to Have (P2)

- [Requirement with acceptance criteria]

## Technical Architecture

### Data Model

[Key entities and relationships]

### System Components

[Major components and their responsibilities]

### Integrations

[External systems and how we connect]

### Security Model

[Auth, authorization, data protection]

## Non-Functional Requirements

- Performance: [specific metrics]
- Scalability: [expected load]
- Reliability: [uptime requirements]
- Security: [compliance, encryption]

## Out of Scope

[Explicitly what we're NOT building]

## Open Questions for Implementation

[Technical details to resolve during implementation]

## Appendix: Research Findings

[Summary of research conducted during discovery]

Phase 7: Implementation Handoff

After spec is written, ask about next steps:

Spec created. How would you like to proceed?

Options:

1. Start implementation now - Begin implementing the spec
2. Review spec first - Read the spec and come back when ready
3. Plan implementation - Create a detailed implementation plan with tasks
4. Done for now - Save the spec, implement later

L'Entonnoir: The Question Funnel

Apply the funnel pattern throughout discovery:

AskUserQuestion (batch of 2-4 options, recognition-based)
     ↓
User selects from options (no typing)
     ↓
Explore based on selection (continuous investigation)
     ↓
AskUserQuestion (narrower batch)
     ↓
Repeat until ready → Move to next category

Key principles:

1. Continuous exploration — Investigate at ANY time, not just between rounds
2. Recognition-based options — User selects from 2-4 options, never types free-form
3. Progressive narrowing — Each round reduces uncertainty
4. Actionable questions — Options should be concrete with clear tradeoffs

Bad example:

"What database do you want?" (user must generate answer)

Good example:

"What kind of data will you store?"
Options:
- "Simple key-value pairs" (fast, limited queries)
- "Complex relational data" (ACID, joins, schema)
- "Flexible documents" (JSON, schema-less)
- "Research options" (I'll investigate tradeoffs)

AskUserQuestion Best Practices

Question Phrasing

• Bad: "What database do you want?" (assumes they know databases)
• Good: "What kind of data will you store, and how often will it be read vs written?"

Option Design

Always include options that acknowledge uncertainty:

options: [
  {label: "Option A", description: "Clear choice with implications"},
  {label: "Option B", description: "Alternative with different tradeoffs"},
  {label: "I'm not sure", description: "Let's explore this more"},
  {label: "Research this", description: "I'll investigate and come back"}
]

Detecting Knowledge Gaps

Watch for these signals:

Signal	What to do
"I think..." or "Maybe..."	Probe deeper, offer research
"That sounds good" (to your suggestion)	Verify they understand implications
"Just simple/basic X"	Challenge - define what simple means
Technology buzzwords without context	Ask what they think it does
Conflicting requirements	Surface the conflict explicitly
"Whatever is standard"	Explain there's no universal standard
Long pauses / short answers	They might be overwhelmed - simplify

Iteration Rules

1. Never write the spec after just 3-5 questions - that produces slop
2. Minimum 10-15 questions across categories for any real project
3. At least 2 questions per relevant category
4. At least 1 research loop for any non-trivial project
5. Always do a completeness check before writing
6. Summarize understanding before finalizing

Handling Different User Types

Technical User

• Can skip some education
• Still probe for assumptions ("You mentioned Kubernetes - have you considered the operational complexity?")
• Focus more on tradeoffs than explanations

Non-Technical User

• More education needed
• Use analogies ("Think of an API like a waiter - it takes your order to the kitchen")
• Offer more research options
• Don't overwhelm with technical options

User in a Hurry

• Acknowledge time pressure
• Prioritize: "If we only have 10 minutes, let's focus on [core UX and data model]"
• Note what wasn't covered as risks

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<critical_constraint> MANDATORY: Ask minimum 10-15 questions across categories for real projects MANDATORY: Include research loops for non-trivial projects MANDATORY: Always do completeness check before writing spec MANDATORY: Surface knowledge gaps and offer research options MANDATORY: Never accept solution descriptions instead of problem statements No exceptions. Discovery produces quality specs through thorough exploration. </critical_constraint>

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Genetic Code

This component carries essential Seed System principles for context: fork isolation:

<critical_constraint> MANDATORY: All components MUST be self-contained (zero .claude/rules dependency) MANDATORY: Achieve 80-95% autonomy (0-5 AskUserQuestion rounds per session) MANDATORY: Description MUST use What-When-Not format in third person MANDATORY: No component references another component by name in description MANDATORY: Progressive disclosure - references/ for detailed content MANDATORY: Use XML for control (mission_control, critical_constraint), Markdown for data No exceptions. Portability invariant must be maintained. </critical_constraint>

Delta Standard: Good Component = Expert Knowledge − What Claude Already Knows

Recognition Questions:

• "Would Claude know this without being told?" → Delete (zero delta)
• "Can this work standalone?" → Fix if no (non-self-sufficient)
• "Did I read the actual file, or just see it in grep?" → Verify before claiming

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